


Tripple espresso shot

by lieutenant_kasatka



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Corporate Espionage, M/M, Octane hits on Taejoon like there's no tomorrow, Octavio roots for the darksparks, everyone else root for cryptane, guest appearance of Wraith as Natalie's gf, they're dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-01-23 17:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21323752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieutenant_kasatka/pseuds/lieutenant_kasatka
Summary: Taejoon takes a job in a coffee shop across the street from the corporation he is planning to get down, and all goes well, until Octane decides to order a cup of coffee from him.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva
Comments: 21
Kudos: 151





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> it's a pile of hot garbage and i love writing it
> 
> also i love wattson so much i'll fight for her

This place was perfect.  
It was clean and warm, it smelled of coffee and Taejoon had a clear view on the gray corporate building towering high across the street. Silva Pharmaceuticals logo glowed dimly in the dusk, reminding him of an unfinished business, and finishing it was only a matter of time. It was also perfect because some of the employees loved to have a lunch and a cup of coffee here, discussing inadvertently their work matters — and Taejoon had ears everywhere in the small establishment. After just a few days he knew the important names, a thing or two about working hierarchy and possible security breaches — and all of that while making soy lattes and cleaning crumbs from the polished tables.  
Hiding in the plain sight always felt the safest. No one would notice a quiet customer service guy working in a coffee shop right across the street from the firm he had planned to infiltrate in order to obtain some data, crucial for a forthcoming trial. He really owed Ajay this time for pointing out this place for him.  
The job itself was nothing spectacular: he obediently made boring small talk with regular customers, leaving the most dull impression possible, he made sure he had no discernable personality and kept his job performance on average. Nothing to be noticed for, neither in the good nor the bad way.  
He liked to be an all-knowing shadow in the midst of an unaware crowd, it gave him a soothing notion of safety and being prepared better than the others.  
He felt like that for a few blissful days, until that one guy came and turned his life into a spectacular dumpster fire.

That early evening the doorbell jingled quietly and Taejoon looked up from his phone — he wasn't actually expecting any clients at the deadliest of all the working hours. The newcomer was quite tall, lanky and looked like he was in a hurry. Blueish medical mask covered the lower half of his face and it was sloppily painted by hand — it looked like two rows of sharp, shark-like teeth in a creepy happy grin. Taejoon also couldn't discern his eyes behind round, black lenses of sunglasses.  
This man wore sunglasses in the evening in the middle of the winter and a cropped hoodie that left his stomach bare.  
Who in their right mind even did this?  
"Buenas tardes," the customer began right after stepping inside and a few seconds later slapped his palms on the counter like he was late for an apocalypse.  
Taejoon gave him a dull questioning smile.  
"Compadre," continued the customer in a muffled, hoarse voice of someone with a nasty flu. Honestly, it wasn't a surprising outcome for running errands with half-naked torso in the middle of the winter. "Which one is the fastest to brew?"  
The customer left an impression of someone who couldn't possibly stand still for a second — he was bouncing slightly as if caffeine and sugar already pumped in unhealthy amounts through his veins. His fingers tapped in an unsteady rythm on the dark polished wood of the counter.  
Taejoon contemplated his question. "Espresso or americano will take the least time to make."  
"And if we're talking one of your high sugar triple frappuchinos?"  
That question ignited a spark of tired irritation in Taejoon. The last of his quiet solitude on the verge of busy prime time was destroyed by some kid with a loud mouth trying to get even more pumped up.  
"Do you want it hot or cold?"  
"Hot," he enthusiastically nodded. "Like, searing. Tooth-rottingly sweet with a few extra shots of espresso."  
Taejoon nodded.  
"Name?" he asked mundanely. The dude was alone here, but the rules still stood.  
"Octane," replied the no longer nameless customer, and Taejoon could hear him grinning even through the mask, like he was immensely proud of the name. Taejoon wrote it down on the side of the plastic cup and nodded:  
"I'll try to make it fast."  
Actually, he really wanted to get this annoying kid out of his system as soon as possible. There was something about him really getting under Taejoon's skin and it was strangely exasperating. Like a constant notion to scratch an itch inside of him that he felt even as he waited for Octane to pay with his card.  
While pouring espresso shots, he heard this Octane guy — this certainly, obviously wasn't a real name — leaning against the counter impatiently and muttering:  
"I have a nice view from here, bonito, so I wouldn't mind if you take your time."  
The raspy voice now had something flirtatious to it, and that was even worse. Taejoon almost physically felt the blazing gaze on his back and, honestly, he hated being an object of someone's focused attention when he didn't initiate it for his own reasons. Staying low, staying safe, leaving no impessions behind — he took pride in his clean jobs and even more clean escapes. And now he was almost thrown off-balance by a tiresome idiot unashamedly hitting on him.  
He poured a caramel syrup on top of the excessive whipped cream and turned around, placing the drink in front of Octane. Octane hummed in appreciation and made an annoying slurp through a straw — he managed to get that thing under his medical mask and looked like an excited coffee junkie.  
"You're the best," Octane cocked his head to the side, but because of the glasses there was no clue what he was looking at, and then added, "Joonito."  
No.  
No way. The fuck.  
Taejoon hoped that no reaction could have been read in his face.  
"Have a good day," he said in a flat tone and left the counter to occupy himself with adding new portion of coffee beans to the thinning stash. Octane chuckled gleefully and after quite a few seconds finally took his leave.  
The doorbell had never sounded so soothingly to Taejoon's ear.  
Taejoon drew a sigh and returned to the counter — only to find there a paper napkin violated with the coffee cup marker. The letters were blotchy and blurry, but he could make it out: "your nice, see ya next time" with a few hearts on the side. The marker he stole from Taejoon to write this masterpiece was left open and Taejoon found out he didn't even had it in him to be angry anymore, he just wanted this situation to be over and done with.  
But yeah, he had to admit, that the urge to slap someone hadn't been so strong in him for months.

***

The next few days were quiet and Taejoon drew some sense of fulfillment from the little steps he took in order to launch an infiltration mission.  
This stage always took the longest, but it was important not to rush if he wanted to get the job done. He'd already got the blueprints of the building and intel on security that would allow him to make the first move safely, but right now he was like a spider in a secure corner waiting for one of the threads to wobble, telling him he could move in.  
This pharmaceutical company was big on security and most of the computers were only connected through a local network with zero acess to the world outside, therefore the possibility of a hack-in was significantly reduced. That wasn't a problem, it just meant that he would need physical acess to one of the computers of the inner net to start the search for the covered trial results. The plan was already set in motion, he just would need a week or two to complete the task.  
Taejoon planned to take a break while the coffee shop wasn't crowded yet and Natalie would do alone just fine, but that wasn't meant to be.  
A new customer came in and made it straight to the counter, leaned forward and fixed Taejoon with the stare of his round glistening eyes.  
"Hello, handsome," he grinned, clearly adressing Taejoon.  
Natalie beside him giggled excitedly and quietly clapped her hands — she loved nothing more than witnessing a spectacular trainwreck.  
Was it some kind of a bad luck strike for Taejoon? All he wanted was quiet solitude, not this.  
"Good day, what would you like to order?" he asked, trying to keep his face straight.  
The customer cocked his head to the side and gave him another wide energetic smile.  
"Don't you remember me, Joonito?"  
_Oh_, it dawned upon Taejoon. Shit. He had almost forgotten and hoped he would never be reminded of that hyperactive guy.  
He didn't recognize him without the mask and in a hoodie that actually did a decent job of covering his belly button, and how could he?  
Now that he could see his face, Taejoon was certain that Octane was definitely a few years younger than him. Octane had a big mouth with sharp small teeth, straight nose and gave out still the same feverish vibe.  
And he was still looking expectantly at him, as if he really wanted an answer.  
"Sorry" Taejoon shrugged, trying to look bored, even though he definitely did remember the guy.  
"Ha, you do!" Octane snapped his fingers and pointed at him. "I see it in your eyes, bonito."  
Taejoon felt trapped for a second.  
"Aw, Tae, you already have your favourite clients!" Natalie wasn't helping him in the slightest.  
Taejoon cleared his throat and asked, "What would you like to drink today?"  
"Same as the last time, amigo. Hot, double shot of espresso, sweet as tu sonrisa."  
Natalie chuckled, so the last part must have been really bad. He didn't want to know what Octane said, it was abundantly clear that he wouldn't like the translation.  
Taejoon tapped a few buttons on the screen, registering the order and felt Natalie crowding by his side, taking a look at the order. She patted him on the shoulder and said in the sweetest voice, "I'll make it, take your time here."  
And then she had the audacity to beam a smile at both of them.  
"Señorita, you're an angel," Octane returned the smile.  
The fuck she was. Taejoon knew how much this cute bamby-eyed girl loved to witness struggles of others, and this time he was the entertainment. The main course.  
He sighed and turned his attention to Octane, who was staring at him without blinking. That really was unnerving.  
"Can I have your phone number, Joonito?"  
"No."  
"Huh, no luck. Can I ask you out, then? I'm nice."  
_No you're not. You couldn't even write the correct "you're" the last time._  
"I'm not interested, I have other things to do," Teajoon hated how the last part of the sentence made it sound as if he could entertain the idea some other time. He should've just left it at "I'm not interested".  
Because he wasn't. The only thing he currently took interest in was the break-in job.  
But Octane looked unaffected. He just continued gleefully, "Cariño, you're like thirty and working in a coffee shop," he grinned. "You can't possibly convince me that you have an exciting busy life. So you for sure have time for a date."  
"You're right," Taejoon nodded and saw a spark of joy lighting Octane's face, his own heart strangely tingled at the sight. "I'm thirty-one and you're, like, what? Seventeen? Mentally you're less than ten anyways. Sorry, I like adults."  
Octane didn't get offended — on the contrary, he giggled and then gave him a shit-eating grin. Okay, maybe he was a little — just a little — cute when he smiled like that and bombarded him with attention.  
"You have a sharp tongue, that's adorable."  
Taejoon has never been called adorable, even by their foster mother. He wasn't adorable. And certainly nothing of this mess of a flirt could be called adorable. And he definitely overstated it seconds before, Octane wasn't cute at all, he was annoying little shit and Taejoon wanted him gone as fast as humanly possible.  
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Natalie putting the drink on the counter.  
"Muchas gracias," Octane thanked her, for a second almost passing for a decent human being. He grabbed his drink and tasted it.  
"Nah, should ask for three shots next time," he decided.  
Natalie nodded. "I'm sure, Tae will be happy to make it for you next time."  
Taejoon considered telling both of them what he thought of this, but decided to abstain. For now. Showing that he was bothered by Octane's attention was in some way akin to pronouncing his loss, and Taejoon just needed some extra time to think and regroup so that in the future he would get rid of the guy and therefore win.  
"Okay," Octane pronounced cheerfully, "I'm actually running late, so I'll leave you for now, amigos. Natalie, you're an angel," he sent her a kiss. "Joonito, until the next time, you look especially cute today," and with that he was gone in a matter of seconds, slurping his sugar-caffeine bomb of a drink on the go.  
The sight of disgustingly cheerful Natalie was the last straw, and Taejoon pronounced that he was going to take a break, preferably for an eternity.  
He couldn't point out what exactly with this guy exasperated him so much, but really felt done with this stupid shit.

_________  
tu sonrisa - your smile


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stan dumb gays

The day outside was beautiful: winter sky was of a serene shade of light blue, the air was cold and clear and people passing by hid their noses into scarfs and puffed out steams of breath. They seemed very busy, talking on their phones or typing something on the go. Taejoon liked watching the passing crowd, it felt distant and peaceful, the sight of rushing people served as a foil to his own quiescence. He liked to be a silent observer, someone distant and unaffected.  
And maybe this was the reason why Octane — restless, energetic, drawing unwanted attention to him — made him feel so uneasy. Taejoon really didn't have much of a problem with people trying to hit on him, god, sometimes he even encouraged it and indulged himself in some short-lived affairs, but why the fuck did this one have to be so loud and obnoxious? It was like Octane was lighting up fireworks in close proximity to him, so Taejoon was unwillingly caught in all the attention drawn to the disastrous show. He felt robbed of his treasured invisibility.  
Octane choosing him of all people for his dumb flirt looked honestly whimsical: what was there for him to like? Taejoon was reserved, secretive, easily irritated and played an outright dull person — nothing to click with. Even cheerful Natalie would have suited him better, in case he liked girls as well.  
And yet Taejoon knew that Octane came yesterday — only to find from Natalie that it was Taejoon's day off — and he looked, as she put it, positively heartbroken.  
Octane came the day in question as well. He wore a crop top under an unzipped leather jacket and beamed a smile at Taejoon as soon as he caught his gaze, then waved a hand energetically as if that wasn't already enough. Some customers turned to look at Octane's enthusiastic entrance with curiosity. Taejoon sighed and nodded slightly, acknowledging his presence — and it turned out to be a tactical error for sure.  
Three seconds later Octane was already bending over the counter and grinning at him, inviding his personal space.  
"Buenas dias, mi amor," he greeted him.  
_Mi amor, huh._  
Taejoon just nodded again in return and took his order — this time with tripple espresso shot for real. Taejoon didn't find the feeling of the heart pumping in the chest and trembling fingers that came with caffeine overdose particularly appealing, but who was he to judge?  
He dutifully poured extra shots in the paper cup, toppled it with the fluff of whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon powder — Octane really, really loved his drinks to be a tightly packed sugar bomb.  
He was almost done when something snatched his attention and he turned around just in time to see Octane finishing taking a selfie in front of the counter and Taejoon working in the background. He saw Octane turning back to face him and met his gaze — but there was no trace of shame for being caught red-handed in his face. He just gave him a cocky smile and started typing something on his smartphone, paying no attention to Taejoon glaring at him.  
Taejoon placed the drink in front of Octane with a distinct thud, but this obnoxious little shit only looked up from his phone for a fraction of a second and gave him an absent smile before continuing. Taejoon patiently waited until he finished what he was doing and then snapped the phone from his hands to check.  
Yes, this was definitely unprofessional. But on the larger scale it wasn't even his real job, and his bigger, actual job required to lay low and keep himself off the grid, so, one could say that in a way he was quite professional at the moment, it just wasn't the profession at hand.  
It didn't take him long to realize that Octane posted the selfie on his Instagram page with the caption "my future boyfriend". In the shot the lower half of his face was covered with a scarf and he was looking at the camera with his fingers in the stupid V-sign. All of this was in front of the counter and one could clearly see Taejoon's back behind him and make out his distinct haircut. Luckily, the name of the coffee shop wasn't in the picture, that's at least something. But this still wasn't looking good for him, and the stupid capture worried him the least at the moment, because the picture itself was much more incriminating: it was placing him a mere hundred of meters from the firm he was breaking in.  
He had to do something about it, but now wasn't the time, so he just remembered Octane's username and returned the phone.  
Octane looked at him a little warily — as he fucking should have — and even asked, "Are you, like, mad, bonito?"  
Taejoon slowly shook his head.  
"Who am I to forbid you to have unrealistic expectations from life?"  
Octane clacked his tongue. "You're really good at finding ways to tell me to fuck off."  
They stared at each other for some time in silence, then Octane sighed and pulled the drink closer, took a sip looking a little bit forlorn and caressing the edge of the paper cupholder. Taejoon almost felt something close to regret, but Octane suddenly lit up again, as if nothing happened before, and the sudden charm was gone.  
"You didn't ask for my name this time," Octane seemed delighted by the discovery. He turned the paper cup and traced the black marker trail on the side with a short nail on his index finger. "So I guess I _am_ special. You remember my name."  
Was it some kind of yet another unbearable flirtatious joke? Of course he fucking remembered him, the guy made everything humanly possible to irritate him to no end and reserve a spot in his mind and now took it as a complete surprise.  
Taejoon drew a deep breath, noticing that his thoughts were spiralling again. Something in Octane really threw him off-balance time after time and he couldn't exactly put his finger on it. Yet. He was going to eventually figure it out.  
Octane grinned at him, snapping Taejoon out of his thoughts. "Don't fancy a date, still? You've had whole two days to think again."  
Taejoon slowly shook his head.  
"Thanks, I'm quite certain."  
Octane sighed dramatically but he didn't look hurt.  
"Well, then just take a small break and have a drink with me here. Like, coffee or something. I'll prove I'm entertaining. It's like a demo version of a date."  
"Haven't you considered that may be I am already a bit too entertained by you?"  
Octane processed the thought.  
"Huh, yet another subtle way to tell me to fuck off, cariño, I'm impressed. Well, then this is it for the day," Octane nodded and paused. He looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds — now _that_ was concerning — then he took a big gulp of still smoking hot coffee and downed it in a few more seconds, keeping eye contact with Taejoon throughout the whole unnecessary ordeal. Then he leaned over the counter, took the marker and with the look of childish determination wrote something on the side of his cup. When he was done, he put the cup in front of Taejoon and even clicked the marker cap back in its place. The cap was definitely a progress.  
So, maybe he wasn't that hopeless in the end, Taejoon thought with strange echo of warmness towards the guy. It was peculiar, how he often found Octane really annoying and at the same time some of his small gestures or words unexpectedly pulled at the strings of his reserved heart.  
He absentmindedly took the empty cup and checked the fresh inscription, black marker letters were still glistening in the warm light of the coffee shop.  
A little below Taejoon's own inscription had been written: Octavio, then a string of numbers and a couple of loosely drawn hearts.  
Taejoon fought a really strong urge to roll his eyes.  
Was it his real name? He had some doubts, 'cause, Octavio, really? Honestly, it sounded as a far too refined of a name to belong to such a clusterfuck of a man. His parents must have known how disappointment feels.  
Octane- Octavio was looking at him expectantly, so Taejoon nodded just ever so slightly and said, "I'll remember the name for the next time."  
And that really was it for the day.

When Taejoon was finally done with his shift and the coffee shop was closed, he stretched his muscles, feeling relief seeping into back of his neck and shoulders. He could go home but he still had one more thing to do.  
He returned to the small staff room at the back of the store — he liked it there, it was quiet, the only sound was the gentle hum of the air conditioning system. His laptop was still hidden in the vent even though he knew Natalie wouldn't probably try to go through his files if she found it. But allowing himself to be paranoid soothed his nerves.  
It took him about half a minute to find Octane's, no, Octavio's profile that he remembered from earlier that day. Turned out, the guy was pretty popular and most of his photos contained dumb selfies in concerning backgrounds. He always covered the lower part of his face with l some stupid mask with sharp teeth or sometimes with some kind of substitute, but Taejoon couldn't find a photo where one could have made out his face. However, he found pictures of Octane grinning with all of his printed teeth at the camera at the top of a skyscraper, dizzying landscape vanishing in the distance; a photo with people clearly participating in an illegal city car race; fuck, there was one where he was petting a crocodile and looking as if he was the least bored for the day.  
Octavio lived his extra life and people were clearly hungtlry for it.  
But the question still stood, maybe even more clearly than before: what on Earth did he find in Taejoon? In Taejoon, who was clearly trying to merge with the background? It was obvious, that Octavio liked when his life gave him a thrill, an adrenaline overdose, and he clearly liked those who were entertaining. So maybe he just had this manner of hitting on anyone in his sight with no real interest behind it, like, as a sport? Maybe Taejoon took him way too serious, and the guy had a dozen more service workers in his life he harassed from time to time?..  
Fuck, that sounded like he was a sour bitch getting jealous of the guy he didn't even want in the first place. That wasn't good.  
He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Then he scrolled all the way back to the top and checked the most recent photo - it was the one in question with the boyfriend caption, where Octane was covering the lower half of his face with a scarf.  
In the back of his mind a quiet thought passed almost unnoticed: no other guy or girl in the photos he checked previously were called nothing of sort.  
But maybe this was some kind of a joke. He didn't want to think about it more than he already did — because it already was excessive.  
Anyways, Taejoon couldn't leave a photo placing him nerby the Silva Pharmaceuticals, even if it wasn't obvious which coffeeshop it was and one could only recognize the back of his head — it was incriminating still.  
So he spent some leisurely time hacking into Octavio's account — at least the password wasn't the date of his birth, a phone number something equally stupid, that definitely got him some points in Taejoon's eyes. Once he was in, he saved the copy of the page with all the comments to check later and deleted the photo, but that didn't give him the full satisfaction, something was lacking. Yes, he cleared the traces and even reverse searched the image in case someone had it reposted or discussed and then Taejoon wiped the important stuff out. Octane was some kind of a popular blogger, so Taejoon had to read quite a few speculations about his personal life and even chuckled after discovering several conspiracy theories concerning dude's real appearance under the mask. Well, there was nothing special behind it, but Taejoon could appreciate a good riddle.  
He also mentally noted that he must gain access to Octavio's phone tomorrow in order to get rid of the original image.  
And yet it all still lacked something. His actions were somewhat of a damage control and there was nothing personal — and the ugly truth was that he craved to give it some personal flavoured topping, because oh boy Octavio didn't hesitate to give him all kind of flavours.  
So. What he could do to get that sweet, sweet and petty revenge?  
Taejoon scrolled photos in Octavio's profile some more and then it dawned upon him. That was going to give out that he himself sometimes was of a mental age of a pre-schooler but he was willing to make this sacrifice.  
There was a perfect old shot of Octane's relaxed fist that was made to show off his small tattoo of an adrenaline molecule at the base of his thumb.  
It would do perfectly.  
He re-uploaded it, this time with a caption that read: "My current boyfriend" and sighed with satisfaction.  
This was really shameful kind of joke but he hadn't felt more at peace in weeks, if not months.  
Hell, now he even wanted Octavio to come again. This game was fun when he wasn't solely a recieving end.


	3. Chapter 3

Taejoon's fingers flew across the keyboard, swiftly typing in the last strings of the code, and the rhythmic sound of plastic clattering under his fingertips calmed him down. The code was turning out well, a little elegant thing that would provide him with remote access to the corporation's inner network once he'd have gotten it in the system manually.   
Writing his own spying malware was one of the most enjoyable parts of the job. Solving the arising coding problems and finding the most effective way to make it work was a very precise and methodical task and it felt as a solid ground for Taejoon — yet there was always room for inspiration and creative flow. And, to be honest, he didn't trust other people enough to use their code, so there was that.  
It was his lunch break at the moment — actually it was coming to an end — and he usually took them at the deadliest of all working hours, so he wouldn't have to rush.  
He had some fifteen minutes more to go and he was just planning how to use them wisely, when there was a short knock on the door. The visitor didn't bother himself with waiting for the response and just tumbled into the small staff room, bringing with him a notion of a clean, winter-cold air.  
"Hello, cariño," Octavio greeted him cheerfully, taking in the scene, and Taejoon felt his pulse quickening and adrenaline rushing through his veins: no one should have seen him working on the code, even if that someone was Octavio who possibly couldn't discern HTML from C++. Still that was very, very uncomfortable, so his only hope was to shift Octavio's attention to something else. Something more captivating.  
He warily closed his laptop, at the same time keeping eye contact with Octavio, who was still flushed because of the cold outside.  
"You know, this is trespassing," Taejoon's voice sounded a little tense even to himself as he spoke.  
Octavio snorted, "Would you like to accuse me of corporate espionage then?"  
_If he only fucking knew._  
"No," he forced a smile. "But you must've discovered that I don't like when you do something to me without warning."  
Octane nodded a few times thoughtfully and then beamed a smile at him, "Yeah, I've had an entertaining evening reading all the comments about my, as you've put it, current boyfriend. I didn't know you can be so adorably petty."  
He did it again. He faced Taejoon's bad mood and called it adorable and that did funny thing to Taejoon's chest. He recognised simmering irritation on the surface, but there was something more to it and he had a notion that he wasn't going to like what he could discover underlying.  
"Anyways, I was impressed. Do you have cool hacker friends, bonito?"  
Shit.  
Well, he did in a way.  
Octavio suddenly stopped and noticed the laptop subtly protected by Taejoon's hands.  
"Dios mio!" his face lit up. "Dontcha tell me _you_ are the cool hacker friend." Octavio laughed excitedly. "I guess you do have an interesting life then, my bad."  
And what exactly was he supposed to say to this? Deny that he was the one who hacked into the account? Make a joke? Keep silent?  
What?   
Octavio finding out that he was able to crack an account or two in social media wasn't actually a disaster, the guy wouldn't probably think much of it, but Taejoon still felt irritation buzzing inside. This time, though, he was mostly unhappy with himself, with his inability to let go of a stupid joke in particular, which led him to the present situation. And all of this because he was way too caught up in his emotions, even if Mila would've said that it was okay and a perfectly human thing to do.  
But he screwed up.  
Yet Octavio seemed not to think much of it and instead stared at him with a glint of mischief in his round, curious green eyes.   
He had dark, curling up lashes, Taejoon noticed.  
"I bet you wanna delete the original pic," Octavio grinned, waving his phone in front of Taejoon in an exaggerated carefree manner.  
Of course he did. And he planned to do this quietly, maybe on a false pretence of giving Octavio his actual phone number in order to get his hands on the very thing.   
"I would like that," he nodded, his voice quiet, and then stood up and took a step closer. And another. Octavio backed a little, loosing his cheerful attitude, then retreated some more, still keeping their eye contact locked — and then it continued like some kind of a tantalising dance. A step, the distance closing, the air heavy with building tension — but Octavio, even as he took his slow retreat, didn't look frightened, he just looked hyped. Those adrenaline junkies, you know.  
"You're so menacing," Octavio said in a raspy voice, finally finding himself caught in the corner, and licked his lips. "That's hot."  
Taejoon felt a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth against his will. Maybe, just maybe, he also found quietened Octavio with his pupils blown wide hot. He saw his bare stomach rising and falling with the slightly hitched breath and it was hard to stop watching this movement. However, wasn't this the kind of attention Octavio craved for?  
Taejoon slightly cocked his head to the side. So, maybe he could play that game a little bit longer?  
"What do you want for access to your phone?" he asked.  
Octavio stared at him for what felt like an eternity and then gave him a shit-eating grin, "How 'bout un beso for me? A kiss?"  
Taejoon didn't give him an answer.  
Instead, he tugged at the thick fabric of Octavio's cropped hoodie, abruptly pulling him closer, so that their faces now were mere inches apart. Hot breath warmed the skin of Taejoon's chin and his lower lip — Octavio had to lift his head up a little because of the height difference. He looked mesmerized at Taejoon, his round, gleamy eyes searching for something in his face feverishly.  
Taejoon lowered his gaze and exhaled slowly, almost brushing Octavio's lips with his own.  
Octavio cleared his throat, remaining deadly still in his place.  
"Honestly I thought I was going to be the one harassing you," he muttered hoarsely, his accent thick at the moment. "But I like it this way even more."  
To say the truth, Taejoon also liked it this way. Control over the situation felt refreshing and soothing, and damn that would be a lie if he said that the clear infatuation in Octavio's face did nothing to him.  
Taejoon, still holding their eyes locked, relaxed one of his fists that'd been clutching the hoodie and dropped the hand, then slowly raised it up and found Octavio's sleeve. He slightly traced the fabric up with his fingertips until he found the bare skin of Octavio's wrist, then took it even further and found the palm clutching the smartphone. Octavio's fingers were blazingly hot, Taejoon caressed them slightly, making them loose, and then grabbed the phone.  
Octavio was still staring at him silently, as if he was afraid to break the spell of the moment.  
Shit, that _was_ hot.  
Octavio licked his lips and tried to grin, "So, a kiss?".  
Taejoon nodded slowly, almost brushing their lips, and Octavio exhaled sharply. Taejoon's own pulse quickened, his lips itched, but he knew better than that.  
So Taejoon lifted his head and placed a slow chaste kiss on the bridge of Octavio's nose, at the same time finally pulling the phone from his loosened grip — and in seconds he was gone from his personal space completely.  
"Password, please?" he smiled at Octavio, who looked utterly scandalised to the point of having a heart attack, yet he voiced the combination.  
"Good boy," hummed Taejoon and unlocked the screen, found the gallery and deleted the picture, then took care of its possible backups he could reach.  
Once he returned the phone, Octavio, who'd been restless the whole time, sighed dramatically and said, "C'mon, cariño, now I want my coffee to mend my broken heart, for I've been decieved by a cruel man."  
Taejoon had to admit: Octavio's melodramatic attitude was kind of adorable.

Natalie giggled the second she saw them leaving the staff room together. Taejoon was still adjusting his apron on the go, while Octavio followed him, complaining and almost bumping into him from time to time.  
Well, maybe that didn't look good, yet still she was supposed to be on his side and not to entertain herself at his cost.  
So he glared at her, deadpan serious — she'd better understand that letting customers behind the counter was fucking irresponsible, even if the whole thing amused her. Maybe even if Octavio had been his boyfriend, and he fucking_wasn't_.  
He returned to his work place and pointed to the other side of the counter to Octavio, reminding him that he was a client.  
Octavio obeyed and then leaned comfortably on the counter top as usual, placed his order — also as usual, and then raised his hand and instead of thanking him did a finger heart gesture, looking Taejoon in the eyes, as if he was a little bit uncertain.  
Taejoon just shrugged. He wasn't particularly affected by this, the gesture to him was straight out of some dramas and the whole idol culture that he wasn't particularly affectionate towards, it wasn't something meaningful to him, but the effort itself was nice.  
"I did my fair share of googling," Octavio sighed again, probably seeing that his struggle was in vain. "And it's already me going out of my way, so por favor appreciate it."  
Taejoon couldn't help himself but chuckled and tried to mask it as a cough, and god it was almost pathetic.  
"I'd say it's a B-," he commented, trying to keep his face straight. "But at least you've got the country right."  
Octavio snorted.  
"Don't listen to the grumpy old man," Natalie came closer. "He's touched deep down."  
Octavio smiled tooth-rottingly sweet at her and Taejoon felt his mood dropping a little. Probably because she wasn't on his side again and preferred some dude who was a horrible flirt.  
He turned away from the cash register, leaving them to their own devices, in order to prepare the tripple espresso sugary abomination. He heard Octavio and Natalie chatting lively like they were best friends since diapers — he was right back then, thinking that Natalie was definitely a better choice than a secretive bitchy perpetrator he himself was.  
Natalie suddenly remembered something and turned to him.  
"Tae, the boss said we're decorating for the Christmas the day after tomorrow, so we'll have to stay for some time after the end of the shift."  
Taejoon nodded and finished making the drink by placing a dome-like plastic lid on the cup.  
When he turned back, he saw Octavio propping his cheek up by his hand and watching him intently.  
"What?" Taejoon asked, already feeling tired.  
"I wonder how would you look brewing coffe for me in my kitchen in the morning, cariño."  
"In that case, I guess you can only wonder."  
Octavio pouted and looked for support at Natalie.  
"He's just teasing you," she consoled him.   
"I am certainly not," Taejoon tried to sound indifferent, but the second he said that, he realised that it didn't turn out that way. It actually sounded like he had some point to prove, and he certainly did not.  
Octavio raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, but he decided not to pursue that train of thought.  
"Well, amigos, I'm already running late. Natalie, mi angel, what'd I do without you," he leaned over the counter, caught her small, fair-skinned hand and placed a kiss on the back of her palm as some kind of a fucking gentleman. Than he turned to Taejoon. "I hope you won't be so savage next time, Joonito."  
And winked at him.   
Taejoon didn't want to know what his own face looked like at the moment, because he had a suspicion that he wouldn't like what he'd see.  
As soon as the door closed and the little bell chimed, he left the front counter and started cleaning the monstrous coffee machine in the back in order to get his thoughts together — it usually helped. He liked meticulous job that kept his hands busy and mind unfocused, but this time it wasn't particularly working for him.  
Especially when Natalie joined him and smiled at him knowingly, definitely amused.  
"Huh, Tae, you _do_ like him," she said, clapping her hands, and it wasn't a question and didn't sound like one.  
No, he did not. He was tired of him, he wanted to get back to his actual job and maybe, just maybe, he found him a little bit attractive.   
Still, he mostly found him annoying.


	4. Chapter 4

Taejoon's next working day was after a day off, which he thoroughly enjoyed, especially that there was zero prospect of meeting Octavio. Well, the fact that it defined the day off was unsettling, but Taejoon decided not to dwell on it. And now he had some work to do and then close the shop on time in order to decorate for Christmas.  
He wasn't much of a Christmas guy himself, so he wondered even more why the holiday season for coffee shops, malls and some other venues began as early as mid-November. Thankfully, their little shop waited till December, but still. Green, white and red was already blooming everywhere and there was no escape from it, one had to deal with all the friendly bearded Santa faces staring from the billboards and advertisement.  
Well, whatever, he would decorate for Christmas and then have some time left for preparations, no one would ask questions if he stayed late that evening. Stayed and observed, because everything for infiltrating the Silva Pharmaceuticals was almost ready, he only waited for a perfect opportunity to launch the mission.  
As far as he knew, there was an event planned later that month, but he would rather start beforehand and leave the event as a backup plan.   
He nodded to himself and returned to tend to the coffee machine: the water tank needed a refill and some cleaning wouldn't do harm.  
Sliding the panel back in its place, Tajoon realized he'd been a little restless, as if unconsciously waiting for something. He looked at the big clock on the wall and noticed that it was long past time Octavio usually came to have his hideous drink, and him noticing was a problem on its own. He clearly didn't like it, he didn't like that his thoughts wandered off on couple of occasions until he disciplined his mind and told himself that hypothesising about the nature of his absence was stupid. Maybe he just finally understood that there was nothing for him to pursue. Or maybe something happened.  
_Yeah, like he finally remembered that he has a life_, Taejoon reprimanded himself and got back to cleaning up the coffee machine which usually steadied his mind.   
This time it somehow didn't do much.

The day turned out to be quite busy.  
Taejoon was about to lock the coffee shop down for the night, but as he was changing the sign from "We're open, come grab a coffee to go" to "We're closed, see you tomorrow", someone impatiently knocked on the glass part of the door, then again. Taejoon lifted his gaze and froze for a second with the cardboard sign in his hand. He was met with an excited grin from flushed Octavio who stood on the other side of the door. The guy had the audacity to wave his hand enthusiastically and then made a gesture asking to let him in.  
Taejoon could've just locked the door then and there and maybe that would have sent the clearest message of all. But he didn't.  
He scowled at Octavio and pulled the door open just a bit, enough to tell him everything he thought of him and the situation at hand.   
_Access denied_, he wanted to say, instead he managed, "I'm not serving you today. I suppose you must know by now what our working hours are," he pointed his finger at milky white letters on the door.  
Octavio beamed at him, "Yeah, I see, I'm right on time!" He giggled and pushed the door a little, getting closer.  
"I'm kinda interested in your off-work hours."  
Well, here it goes again.  
"This is not a service our company can provide."  
Being grumpy and less than talkative was Taejoon's to go strategy.  
Octavio didn't seem affected in the slightest, instead he finally worked his way inside, closely brushing against Taejoon and had the nerve to pat him on the shoulder.  
"Relax, bonito, I'm here to help."  
_Huh?_  
"Nat, you're here?" Octavio called at the back of the shop.   
"I'll be in a minute!" she responded cheerfully.  
So, she was on board with it, whatever it was. Or maybe he even came to see her and it had nothing to do with Taejoon. A spark of irritation flickered in his chest, surely at the perspective of Natalie leaving him alone to decorate. Even with their two pair of hands it was going to take a couple of hour, and if Octavio came to pick her up, he would be stuck here forever.  
Taejoon noticed that Octavio was wearing a sweater for a change underneath his winter coat, one that actually covered his navel, but then Octavio tugged off a scarf impatiently, pulled off the coat and then the sweater only to leave a cropped top on.  
"So," Octavio began, combing his messed by undressing hair down with his fingers. "Can I ask for a coffee before we start?"  
No, was Taejoon's first thought. Then _wait, what_?  
"Start what, exactly?" he sounded tired even to himself at the moment.  
"Why, putting up all the Christmas stuff, of course. Nat complained a lot yesterday that it was going to take forever."  
Well, he did come to see her on his day off, Taejoon noted automatically and then swept the thought away.  
"So," Octavio continued, buzzing with excitement and content. "I thought I could speed it all up a lot."  
Taejoon still didn't reply, just trying to process the chaotic logic of the guy beaming at him proudly. He was a fucking stranger who took it to his liking to hit on the baristas of a small local place and now he was sure that it was okay to come after the working hours and announce that he was going to help them.   
Octavio seemed to notice his disdainful look and rushed to say, "Y'know, Ajay approved."  
"What?" Taejoon was definitely thrown off-balance for a second. Did he know her? Did he know her well enough to call her and ask if it was okay to come and flirt the fuck out of her employees while they were working some extra hours?  
"Ajay, the one who probably hired you?" Octavio clearly was searching for the look of recognition in his face, one eyebrow raised impatiently. Then he seemed to catch something and smirked at him. "Yeah, amigo, I called her and it's official."  
What a fucking predicament.  
Taejoon took a deep breath and then nodded slowly — there wasn't anything he could do about the whole thing anyway, so he might as well stop winding himself up.  
"You'd better be helpful," he stated in the end.  
"Cariño, I'm going to impress the fuck out of you with my decorating skills," Octavio promised, his voice thick with the accent which sounded nice to Taejoon's ears. Not that he was paying attention or that it started to grow on him, nothing like that. Just, nice.  
"I see you're ready," Natalie giggled, finally joining them. She had already got rid or her apron and now was wearing one of her favourite overalls, her natural fair hair loose, almost glowing in the hushed down soft lighting. She looked cute and light-hearted and Taejoon definitely could see why she was a much better choice.  
"Ciertamente," Octavio confirmed. "So, how should we start?"  
Natalie looked thoughtful for a second, tapping a finger at her chin.  
"Everything is stashed in the staff room," she said. "A small pantry in the back, you know?" she checked with Taejoon. He gave a silent nod, he remembered the cramped room with stale air and a whole lot of different boxes.  
"Would you bring everything here, boys?" she asked. "And I'll make a coffee for Tavi, that was the deal. Tae, you want one yourself?"  
He shook his head, he'd better start working.   
"Lead the way," Octavio gave him another shit-eating grin, like there was nothing more fun and important than going with him to retrieve some festive decorating abominations. He trailed behind Taejoon into the staff room and sighed.  
"Brings back some memories, huh, cariño?"  
_It was literally two days ago_, Taejoon thought but decided to left that unanswered.  
"How 'bout some more kisses if I prove to be good?" Octavio encouraged him, but when Taejoon shot him a glance, he looked a little uncertain.  
Taejoon just sighed and slowly shook his head. He didn't have it in him to fight that evening.

Surprisingly, Octavio turned out to be pretty helpful. He cheerfully mounted the ladder, tucked some festive glittery garlands in places inder the ceiling, put decorations on a faux Christmas tree and splayed everything with artificial snow for decorating. Well, also he was restless and tried to be in three places at a time, but Taejoon had to acknowledge that he was effective.  
Octavio had an awful habit of rocking the stepladder beneath his feet while he was murmuring some Christmas songs in a raspy voice, replacing half of the lyrics with the Spanish counterparts. That was honestly uncomfortable to look at, but at the same time it caught Taejoon's eye, because it looked as if Octavio was having the time of his life. And he smiled a lot at him, like he was genuinely happy to spend time in close proximity.  
That made Taejoon a little uneasy, but not necessarily in a bad way.  
Until Octavio's movement faltered and he accidentally knocked the ladder over, crushing to floor with it. The noise was horrible and Taejoon felt fear creeping up in his throat.  
"I'm fine," Octavio assured him, waving his hand, as Taejoon rushed to check on him.  
Taejoon didn't believe him in a slightest, but left his side to fetch a first aid kit.  
When he returned, Octavio still remained sitting on the floor near the crash site and was feeling for his ankle with a thoughtful expression, like he was assessing the damage but wasn't particularly worried.  
Taejoon sat down in front of him, placing the first aid kit on the floor nearby. Octavio casted a strange glance upon it but said nothing.  
"Hurts?" Taejoon asked. Well, wasn't it the stupid question to ask. But Octavio didn't comment on it, just smiled warily, yet he didn't seem to be in pain by the look of it.   
Then he cheered up and asked, "Would you, like, tend to my wounds, if it does? Then I'm certainly dying and need all the attention," he carefully stretched the leg, giving Taejoon more acess.   
Taejoon just nodded and gently pulled up the fabric to see the injury. He was about to reach with his fingers and check whether there was a swelling or raised temperature, but all he saw was the dull glint of a metallic joint. He came to a halt abruptly, as if he got punched in the gut.  
Oh.  
"Maybe ice and bandages aren't exactly what I need," said Octavio, stubbornly looking away. "A screwdriver would do better. But anyways, thanks, bonito."  
Taejoon carefully traced the metal with his fingers, as if was lost for a second, but then snapped out of it, withdrew his hand and apologized.  
Maybe he had noticed that there was something a bit off with how Octavio walked, but he always thought it had to do with his overall restless personality. Or maybe he just liked to think of himself as a perceptive person and backtracked the whole thing right now. Actually, he was quite clueless.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he murmured finally, avoiding staring at the prosthetic leg. What could have possibly done this to him?  
Octavio shifted uncomfortably but didn't try to hide the leg or jerk back, instead he smirked and pulled up the fabric on the second leg. It was also prosthetic.  
"Well, that always doubles the effect," he barked a laugh, as Taejoon blinked.  
The joke was awful, as well as Octavio's attitude. Taejoon caught himself smiling.  
There was a pause, but it wasn't heavy with silence.  
"I'm sorry this happened to you," Taejoon said after some build-up. He really was sorry. Even if Octavio was hyperactive and annoying and loud, he didn't deserve something so severe to happen to him.  
Octavio dismissed his words with a wave of his hand.  
"Y'know, this often changes the way people look at me," he said, voice a little strained.  
Taejoon knew. He saw that kind of a shift in people's eyes when they learned that he didn't get to grow with his biological parents or that he'd lost his foster sister.  
"I don't want it and I don't want their pity, I still can kick their asses in a sprint," he grinned with defiance. "And I don't want yours either."  
"I'm not pitying you," he cut him off, maybe a little harshly. "I'm just saying that I'm sorry that happened, and me saying that doesn't make you less of a person or less capable. You're quite good at getting on my nerves, for example."  
This was a trainwreck of a reassuring speech, but he really wanted Octavio to feel better. Wanted to be decent to him, even if it meant being mean to him in the same way as always, because really, his injury didn't change anything, if Octavio didn't let it change anything. Taejoon respected that, and Octavio for it too.  
"Gracias," Octavio said finally with a ghost of a smile. Taejoon could see gratitude in his big, glistening eyes. "Anyways, that's why I usually joke about blowing off my own legs in the first fifteen seconds after meeting someone. And I kinda forgot to do it with you."  
So, was he worried how Taejoon would react in the end, then?   
"Well," he hoped he sounded casual enough. "Do you really need a screwdriver?"  
"Yeah, that wasn't a joke."  
Octavio beamed a smile at him, and there was not only some sort of gratitude to it, but also tenderness that almost horrified Taejoon — or maybe his own reaction to it did. Because something inside his chest definitely tingled, while he got up to find a screwdriver.

Half an hour later, when they were done with decorations and Octavio sorted out the problem with his limbs, the three of them sat, sipping hot coffee and cocoa and checking out the decorations for the festive spirit. It looked nice, at least in the dim-lit locked down shop.  
There was a quiet, yet distinct knock on the door, and Natalie placed her cup on the table and rushed to open up without even checking out who it was.  
Taejoon could see a short woman with fair skin and pitch-black hair, her eyes unnaturally bright. Natalie murmured something to her and leaned in to steal a quick kiss.  
He glanced sideways and saw Octavio grinning at them, and he looked do proud as if he was a living image of a collective mother seeing off daughters to a prom.  
Octavio was sipping his awful tripple espresso shot coffee and side-eyeing Taejoon back with a content smile.  
Looking like he really, really enjoyed spending time with him.  
Terrifying.  
Taejoon had to wrap up this evening as soon as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for this ass long hiatus  
also there's a caustic cameo and i'm not that fond of the guy

Silva Pharmaceuticals building was huge.   
Like, unreasonably huge, floors after floors of faceless high-tech departments and dull people dressed neatly in black and white or in medical gowns.   
Taejoon managed to find his way inside as a new IT guy, one of many. Hiding in plain sight was still one of the safest bets, and he was going to be officially paid for going around and digging through the firm's computers. Perfect. Todau it was his third time inside and the first time without supervision. During previous visits he followed around some other guy who taught him what to do and how to find his way around the building with its endless hallways and labs, so now Tae had a pretty good idea where he was and where he wanted to be. He needed the access to one of the computers at the medical trials department to get inside the local network to find the data he needed. With the code he wrote all he had to do is to plug a flash drive inside and wait for it to download everything that might be of interest to him and then wipe any trace of his presence in the system.   
Tae was good at this, it wasn't his first job that required keeping a low profile and getting undercover for stealing data, because not everything could be achieved from the safe space of his own cramped bedroom. And if he was completely honest, he liked being out there, getting a little bit high on adrenaline. Tae mentally scolded himself for coming that close to admitting to liking some adrenaline in his life. He was nothing like that, he was reasonable. He was calm and reserved. He was nothing like Octavio and therefore one day Octavio would inevitably get tired of him, because the guy was easily bored and had an attention span of a two-year-old high on sugar. And honestly, even considering his secret life, Tae was still mind-numbingly boring.   
He combed his hair with his fingers, getting rid of those thoughts. Why did he even care?   
He finally made it to one of the department's computers and sat down in the chair with an air of confidence. One of the most important parts of such an undercover job was to look like you belonged and were in your right. So he woke up a computer from its slumber, pushing a small flash drive in one of the ports and busied himself with opening some diagnostic tools and running tests for the semblance of working. The soft hum of the processor running sounded calming to his ear and after some time he looked around, checking that no one took interest in him. There weren't many people during the lunch break and no one minded the boring IT guy, but he prefered to keep an eye on things at all times, just in case. Boring, see?   
Oh yes, back to that. Besides everything, when his job here would be done, he'd be gone from that coffee shop and Octavio's life, so there was simply no possible future and Taejoon didn't want to indulge in such a short-lived affair. Because there was something special about that guy that made him feel _things_ and it honestly was unnerving. Well, mostly he was annoyed or sometimes even secretly a bit entertained, but he felt a dangerous potential there. Decorating for Christmas was... nice. Maybe Octavio didn't know (god, Taejoon hoped he had no idea) but he actually managed to push Tae's buttons, even if the secret to it was slamming the whole keyboard with excitement. Taejoon didn't want to catch any feelings and he supposed he could, even though he'd never admit that out loud.  
He got caught up in his thoughts so much that it came to him as a shock when a heavy hand patted him on the shoulder. His mind started racing and he slowly turned around to look at the man standing behind him. It was a man in his fifties, probably, staring at him with cold and suspicious eyes. And he clealrly looked impatient and annoyed.  
"Hi," Taejoon went for his most fake nice IT guy persona and smiled at the man like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. "I'm running some check-ups here, I'll be done in a minute."  
"I never asked to," the man said heavily and there clearly was a hint of menace in his voice. "You're stalling my work, this delay wasn't accounted for."  
Gosh, that man gave him chills. Why out of all the computers he had chosen this one to intrude?  
Taejoon smiled even wider, feeling how unnatural that smile was, but his mind was still calculating. His best shot was probably to play dumb, so this creepy professor-looking guy would lose interest in a man clearly inferior to him, Tae knew the type well.  
"Sorry, it's my first week. Just wanted to make everything run smoothly so you guys can focus on your, ugh, science... stuff?" he smiled again. "What are you doing here, by the way? Run experiments? Do some math after?"  
The man almost looked appalled like Tae had turned into a cockroach.  
"Out," he just said.  
Tae made a solemn face and looked at the screen as if he really was concerned for the future of medical science right here, while his hand silently found a bump of his flash drive under the table and gently retrieved it. He hoped that he got everything that he needed because he wouldn't be surprised if that man turned in a complaint for wasting his time. Even if it meant wasting even more time in order to do so.   
He stood up from the chair and made a gesture asking the rightful owner to sit down. The man looked him up and down, clearly not being happy with him, then sat down.  
Taejoon was smiling at the guy and planninf to get out, when his phone beeped with an incoming message.  
His real phone, not the number he gave Wattson or other people who currently had to communicate with him.  
He frowned and felt another vibration in the pocket of his pants. It had to be urgent, because his personal phone number was known to a very, very limited number of people.  
He smiled at the guy again and reached for the phone, sliding the screen lock open. There were two texts showing in a messenger app from an unknown number - well, at least Taejoon didn't recognize it. He found himself frowning deeper and opened the app he rarely used because he knew all too well how weak all of those security protocols really were.  
**n33d4sp33d**: morning, mi amor  
What the actual fuck.  
Taejoon stared at the screen, bewildered. It was his private number that was currently known to maybe, like, five people in the world, one of them already dead. Well, five of them and Octavio, apparently.  
He had zero doubts who it was, taking into account the obnoxious nickname. But fucking how?  
**n33d4sp33d**: not talkative in the morning huh  
The second message only confirmed all of his suspicions. What should he do now? Pretend it was a wrong number? Tell the guy to fuck off? Ignore him? Let him spam his inbox and entertain himself at Octavio's expense?   
He felt a corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily in amusement at the last idea. That was bad. Attachment was bad, and if he'd gotten to a stage where he actually considered a possibility of letting Octavio hit on him 24/7 through his private number, it was alarmingly bad.  
He heard an uneasy cough and snapped out of his thoughts. Oh god, he was in the middle of an undercover work and zoned out again while contemplating his apparently blooming relationship with the loudest, most restless guy who walked this earth. But he had cute freckles and a mischievous glint to his eyes though.  
Shit.  
Taejoon turned the phone off and smiled with one of his most polite smiles at the guy who was impatiently waiting for him to leave and to never show up again. Well, he could do just that.  
"It was nice meeting you, doc. See you around," he waved his hand with fake cheerfulness and felt satisfaction settle deep inside after watching how clearly uncomfortable he made the professor of god know what. And if he had to go full Octavio on him for that, so what?  
He was petty, boring and in a bad mood. And Octavio was a bad influence on him, apparently.

When he finished his shift and checked out, quietly leaving the building, Taejoon finally took out his phone again. There wasn't much to see, only one new message from the same person.  
**n33d4sp33d**: it's ur day off, right, joonito? missing ya and my coffee  
He sighed and refused to think about it. He was totally done for today. He got distracted twice, that wasn't looking good for him.  
His phone beeped right in his hand.  
**n33d4sp33d**: your charming and easy going today as usual i see  
**n33d4sp33d**: i can see you've read my messages u know that right??  
**n33d4sp33d**: ...well you probably do joonito and do it on purpose  
Tajoon watched messages coming in silently. Maybe he did.  
**n33d4sp33d**: why are we here just to suffer?  
**n33d4sp33d**: you have to hear my meme impressions one day. that's how i'll make you fall for me. no man can say no to that  
Taejoon stopped himself from giving a short laugh at that. He finally left the building and couldn't help but look briefly at the coffee shop across the street. It looked nice with its big windows decorated for Christmas, he had to admit.  
Before he could stop himself, he unlocked the phone and replied.  
**TaejoonPark**: No.  
His phone went silent and then exploded with incoming messages.  
**n33d4sp33d**: omg look who's talking  
**n33d4sp33d**: ur hilarious i like that  
**n33d4sp33d**: wait what  
**n33d4sp33d**: you don't want my memes?? for real?  
**n33d4sp33d**: it's good that ur pretty bc clearly we have to work on your taste  
**n33d4sp33d**: still charming tho  
Tajoon sighed and powered the phone off.   
No one saw it, but while Taejoon was crossing the street, a quiet smile bloomed on his face.

Later in the evening that day he got one more message. Octavio sent him a link to a video of him chugging down as much coke under two minutes as possible and then eating a handful of mentos on top. Turned out, he had a YouTube channel of his own where he was entertaining people by doing progressively more stupid stuff, and a couple of millions of people were subscribed to him. And probably entertained.  
In all of his videos he was wearing a mask, hiding the most of his face, but no one clearly wasn't bothered, people just regularly asked in the comments to do a face reveal. So what, was Octavio famous on the internet? That clearly wasn't good for Taejoon keeping a low profile. On the other hand, while coming to the shop Octavio never wore his signature masks and was pretty good at hiding out in the open, so it seemed. That was... smart. That was a thing Taejoon himself would do.  
Tae spent some time and did his research and yeah, no one knew of "Octane's" real identity, there were only conspiracies and speculations scattered all across the internet. But to think of it, neither did Taejoon. He didn't know him, all he's got was a name and a phone number.  
But the question still stood, now more than ever: why him of all people? Octavio could've had anyone and yet he was persistent with hitting on him. Well, there were two questions, the second being how the fuck did he get his private number? But he had his suspicions that he was going to prove first things tomorrow visiting Che.  
He sighed, pushing his mess of thoughts aside, and indulged in clicking on another video titled "How much caffeine will kill me?".  
Octavio really was fucking dumb, he thought fondly, watchin the man on the screen.  
And deep in his heart Taejoon had a weak spot for people who had the courage to be indignantly dumb and who gave about zero fucks throughout their lifetime. It was a luxury he couldn't afford himself.


End file.
